Unexpected Joy

This is going to be long, so if you want the short version, here it is.  Megan has taken over the kitchen and God has provided a way for all of us.  Praising God today!  For the details, read on.....

Let me share what God did this week….

My PD (Parkinson’s Disease) has progressed to the point that the Orthostatic Hypotension (OH) won't let me stand in one place long enough to do anything without risk of passing out, then add the tremor and PD is making cleaning, laundry, cooking, doing dishes, etc. impossible. I can stand up as long as I am moving, but standing in one spot, I will begin getting woozy and can pass out. So if you stop me to talk, I look for a chair, or a wall, or somewhere to lean or I have to move, flap my arms, rock backed and forth, march in place or I begin to black out.  I can shop, leaning or hanging on to a cart and between ""off" periods, and NO dawdling, but once the food is home, I have trouble doing anything with it.  

With all of this, our 14 year old daughter, Julie, has been taking care of Mandy and I, the house and doing much of the cooking all summer.  I knew it was too much for her but I didn’t know what else to do. The rest of the family wasn’t seeing it as they aren’t home, everyone else was gone from home 12+ hours a day (overlapping schedules, combined rides and long commutes), and so, all we had was Julie.  She has been a trooper and done what she could but something had to give and the one thing we could do to take some of the burden was to purchase pre-packaged food. All supposedly healthy, gluten free- for Mandy and Julie, but not anywhere near real food.  I call it healthy junk food, or maybe non-allergenic junk food?  Plus, we found out that, well to put it bluntly, Julie can't cook, well, she 'can', it just doesn't taste that good (she loves to embellish the recipe) and you might get potato soup or ice cream for breakfast.  And it’s not because she doesn’t try, she somehow fell through the cracks and didn’t get taught, something we ARE going to resolve!  (I read this to her and she says, she KNOWS how to cook, she just doesn’t have TIME to do it right. Megan says her ADHD shows when she cooks. All we all agree on is that things often just don’t’ tastes quite “right”)

All this to say, this summer we about starved to death on that “healthy” junk food.  Is that possible?  Before this summer, I wouldn't have thought so, but now I believe it is not only possible but is the #1 reason for so many health problems.  We could visibly see Mandy decline yet further, and I knew in my gut that the poor nutrition this summer was behind it.  Before the twins started work last spring we had done fairly well, but this summer we had resorted to packaged foods just to get calories. Not a good choice but we did what we had to just to survive.  Megan didn't realize how bad it had gotten until she was home, breathing & off allergy/asthma meds enough to see what was going on and had spent a week eating our ‘diet’. 

Sunday night, I watched the Carpenter special on PBS and it hit me how much like Karen, Mandy was looking and I was just overcome with how desperate our situation had become.  I knew we couldn't continue this way. No, Mandy does not have Karen’s eating disorder, but I knew that the ‘diet’ they had her on was slowly but surely killing her.  You see, everything she was eating had been approved by her nutritionist but was providing no real nutrition and as she gets weaker, she eats fewer and fewer calories.

Add to this, in a week, Julie needed to start school and even her time to help would be reduced.  At 3:30 Monday morning, I prayed, Dear God, help us, I don't know what to do!!!! 

Monday, we had to get up at 4:30 to go to town for errands and shopping. I determined that I was going to figure out a menu that would feed us right, but still didn't know how to get it done or how to do it long term.  Megan would help for this week, but she was hoping to find work north of here 20 miles and would be moving as soon as she found something, but I thought maybe she could show Julie some things and it would at least get us started???

What I didn’t know was that God had been working on Megan’s heart at the same time.    She started Liberty U Online Monday, with few bills but no job.  We had told all of the kids that we would like them to live at home - room and board free - until they turned 20 and still attending school (with  rules, of course), then, after 20, we would charge a minimal amount for rent and food.   The amount is much less than they would pay on their own, but gets them used to being responsible adults, while still living here, if they so choose.

After Megan’s 6:00 a.m. dental appointment, on our way to the hospital to sit with my Dad, Megan approached me with a proposal.  She had been off work just over a week and the first week she was down recovering from a summer with severe allergies/asthma and weaning off the drugs.  Who knew there is such a thing as being allergic to money???  I digress…

But in that week, not being able to help much around the house, she had realized what was going on, how hard Julie was trying, how much help both Mandy and I now need and what we were actually eating.  And she came up with a plan.

Her offer was to continue helping with her portion of food costs, if we would waive her rent in exchange for taking over the kitchen, planning the menu (not an easy feat with 3 different sets of dietary requirements and several sets of food allergies to deal with, all a big part of the poor nutrition this summer), teaching Julie to cook, and preparing the meals. Anyone available could help with cleanup and lend a hand in cooking, but she will do most of it. I will still do the shopping, something she doesn’t like to do, and I can actually do!  The rest of the family will help with other chores when they are available. This will let her concentrate on finishing her B.A. and give us the help we so desperately need.  We accepted. 

We all wondered what God was doing when she developed the money allergy and had to quit her bank job. But even in this we can see God's hand.  She made enough this summer to cover her limited expenses this winter, and we were rapidly coming to the place of having to hire help both for everyone's health and for Julie, who needs a break and time for high school and to just be a teen.

Monday we put together a menu, and purchased the food. Yesterday, we got 3 real meals, 3 snacks, all made with fresh vegetables, fruit, raw milk products, and good fats and proteins. She had time to do her college work.  The kitchen was clean before we went to bed. 

God is so good.  He has a path, even when we can’t see a way, He has it all covered.  I know that this is only a temporary solution and we need to be seeking His will for our future, but I am not afraid of it, He will show us His path in His time and in His care everything will be good.

Praising God for His quirky, unexpected, unpredictable yet perfect way.